


Day 4: Free Day

by GemmaRose



Series: Klance Week [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Consensual Infidelity, Crushes, Fake Marriage, M/M, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-07 05:02:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7701817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith doesn't like the way Lance looks at Allura.</p><p>Crossposted from the <a href="http://voltron-kink.dreamwidth.org/1161.html?thread=58761#cmt58761">Voltron kink meme</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When the rescue mission went south, Allura had ordered the rest of them to retreat and let her follow with Lance in an escape pod. Keith had wanted to scream at her, to say that they’d come here for Lance and they damn well weren’t going to leave without him _or_ her, but Shiro had spoken first. Well, shouted was more accurate. They’d fallen back in the end, retreated to dogfight with drone ships and keep the galra busy until that all-important little pod left the ship.

Just as Pidge had spotted a bay door opening, though, the ship had jumped to lightspeed. The past month and a half had been filled with desperate searches of every star system they came across, the castle only able to move at half of what the galra cruiser was capable of without Allura there to make wormholes. The tracker, apparently, ran on Allura’s magic as well as tracing where her unique energy signature was coming from. It had given out a few days into the search, but as long as they flew straight they would come across her sooner or later.

The search would definitely be faster if they weren’t heading straight into occupied territory, but by its trajectory the battleship had been headed back to base so encounters with the galra were pretty much inevitable. The castle was able to provide some level of artillery support in a pinch, but every dogfight Keith missed Lance more. Not just his frankly phenomenal shooting, but other things. His stupid jokes and terrible puns, his unrestrained glee in the face of spectacular explosions, the way he counted destroyed drones under his breath in battles where they usually wound up needing Voltron.

Keith knew it was stupid, that Lance barely considered him a friend, but he missed the Blue Paladin fiercely. He couldn’t help it. Somehow, without his noticing, he’d gotten used to having Lance around. Lance was always up for a fight, even if it was petty as hell. Lance never failed to have a pithy insult ready, either for him or for an enemy they were facing.

Hunk and Pidge tried to assure him that Lance and Allura were both perfectly capable of defending themselves, and with the two of them together the biggest threat to Lance’s life was probably Allura hitting him too hard after an ill-timed flirtation. Keith wasn’t convinced, but thankfully Shiro was just as worried about Allura as he was about Lance, so he knew his concerns weren’t misplaced.

\---

After a solid month and a half of searching for their missing friends, the castle pinged two registered life forms on the surface of a planet which was largely covered in deep orange clouds heavy with lightning. Hunk and Pidge agreed to stay in the castle, ready to board their lions at a moment’s notice if a battleship should decide to show up, while Shiro and Keith went down to collect their teammate and their princess. Pidge had joked about using the buddy system, but it did make sense. Lance had been captured in the first place because he ran off after a fake distress call on his own without waiting for backup, and Allura had been on her own trying to rescue him.

The surface of the planet was not a place Keith would wish on anyone, bare rock grooved and pitted by torrential rain, scorched or blown up in places by lightning. Shiro was the one to spot the smoking remains of a galran shuttle, and after a moment of pure terror Keith noticed a faint light in the distance. They parked their lions nearby, and discovered on foot that said light was coming from the mouth of a cave.

The locals looked nearly human, their brown skin just a little too vibrant to really pass, and wore elaborately decorated robes in all colours. The patterns apparently had meaning, and the ones Shiro got denoted eldest and youngest son. Keith supposed they looked enough alike to be family, and they’d probably face fewer questions posing as relatives.

After the purchase was made, they had two and a half hours before Hunk and Pidge assumed the worst and came down to demand the return of the Princess and all three Paladins. Two and a half hours to search for their friends, to find Lance and Allura and get off-planet with them. Honestly, with the way this mission was going Keith was either going to punch Lance in the face of kiss him when they finally found the Blue Paladin. Wait, kiss? Oh, shit he was so screwed.

It took a solid hour of wandering and Shiro asking questions about “family friends” before Keith spotted Lance. His short brown hair had grown out some, and Keith could pick out the symbol for son on his robes, and it was _definitely_ Lance. Keith opened his mouth to call out across the wide plaza, but the words died in his throat as a girl who could only be Allura walked up next to Lance and slid an arm around his waist. Keith watched as they chatted with one of the local aliens, the way Allura made no attempt to dislodge Lance’s hand on her hip, the matching symbols repeated over their robes.

The symbol for newlyweds.

It felt like a stone had dislodged itself from inside Keith’s ribcage and plummeted down past his feet, taking most of his internal organs with it. Lance and Allura, were married? Lance said something, Allura laughed, and Keith’s heart twisted at the smile that lit Lance’s face. He wanted Lance to smile at _him_ like that, to be that happy just to spend time with him, to press kisses to his cheek and look at him like he was the best thing in the whole wide universe. Next to him, Shiro’s arm creaked quietly. Keith looked up, and wondered how much his face had looked like that just a second ago.

It was no secret that Shiro and Allura were dancing around each other, that they had been since everyone was reunited after the haywire wormhole incident. They were practically dating, if you ignored the fact that they hadn’t kissed or been on a single date yet. The creaking stopped, and Shiro’s face smoothed out into a smile before he called out to the Blue Paladin. Lance hugged Shiro, and punched Keith on the shoulder hard enough that it would’ve stung if not for his flight suit. It still did sting, though not on the skin.

Lance and Allura had matching tattoos, complicated round glyphs on the back of each hand which were used to mark how long a couple had been married. On the way back up to the castle, Keith couldn’t stop thinking about those symbols on Lance’s hands. Thick, solid black lines curling across his smooth brown skin to form intricate knots and alien symbols. Red landed well before Black, and when Keith stood up he found himself pulled into Lance’s arms. Not for a hug like Shiro received, but for a kiss.

It was sweet, tender, everything Keith hadn’t known he wanted until earlier today. It was also wrong, and he said as much when he pushed Lance away hard enough that the Blue Paladin stumbled. He wasn’t so desperate for affection that he would condone Lance cheating on his _wife_. Lance seemed dumbstruck when Keith said as much, but Keith didn’t linger to look at his teammate’s expression. He needed to hit something, and the training dummies made a much more appealing target than Lance’s stupid face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has occurred to me that I am writing an awful lot of pining Keith. I would apologize, but it’s just so much fun.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can all thank [elenorasweet](http://archiveofourown.org/users/elenorasweet/pseuds/elenorasweet) for prompting me to write this. Warning, sappy fluff ahead. Also Lance being an idiot but that's pretty much baseline for him so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

“And then he just stormed off!” Lance threw his arms up and leaned back, almost overbalancing before he grabbed the back of the chair he was perched on and righted himself, feet not quite touching the floor.

“That doesn’t seem right.” Shiro frowned. “He was pretty frantic with worry while we were looking for you.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t a misunderstanding?” Allura wore a matching expression of confusion and concern.

“Pretty hard to misunderstand a kiss.” Lance huffed, crossing his arms.

“Lance...” Allura’s expression changed to suspicion. “What did you say before kissing him?”

Lance blushed and looked down. “Well, I couldn’t decide, so I just kinda pulled him in and kissed him?” he looked back up with a sheepish smile.

“Without telling him that this was purely a cover story?” Allura held up a hand, displaying the intricate marriage tattoo inked into her skin. Lance had grown plenty familiar with that look during their time undercover, it meant she thought he’d done something immeasurably stupid even though, in theory, he knew better.

“How was I supposed to know he’d understand the symbols?”

Allura reached out and whacked his temple with a loose fist. Next to her, Shiro did his Disappointed Dad Sigh.

“Go find Keith, and explain the situation.” Allura said firmly, pointing towards the command deck’s door. Lance opened his mouth to protest, but she silenced him with a look. “Now.”

\---

Keith was, somewhat predictably, in the training room. Lance hovered by the door until the Red Paladin dispatched of his robot opponent, and as it was sucked into the floor Keith stilled.

“Why are you here?” he asked, voice flat and cold. Lance’s stomach twisted uncomfortably, but he swallowed the urge to make an excuse and leave. He couldn’t let Keith keep thinking that he was a married man, after all.

“There’s something I didn’t tell you, earlier, in Red.” he said haltingly.

“End program.” Keith said, and turned towards Lance with an absolutely expressionless face.

“I didn’t want to get these.” Lance held up his hands, displaying the tattoos. “They hurt like hell, and it felt- _feels_ wrong.” he lowered his hands, rubbing at the tattoo on the back of his left one. “When Allura and I found that place, a saleswoman thought we were together. I froze up, but Allura just ran with it and before we could figure out a long-lasting temporary solution we’d been recommended three different tattoo places.” he looked up, and Keith’s face was still perfectly blank. He was closer though, and his bayard was deactivated, so that was probably good. “It was all part of the cover story. She’s more like a sister to me than anything else. Reminds me a lot of my sis Amalia back home, actually.”

Lance managed a chuckle, but Keith’s face was still flat as hell as he closed the distance between them with slow, measured steps. “We made a deal, while we were there. About a week ago. She’d tell Shiro how she felt about him if I told you how I feel about you.” Keith stopped at a conversational distance, expression still unreadable, and Lance forced down the rising feeling that he should leave now before things could go too horribly south. “I really like you.” he said quickly, grabbing his robes and directing his gaze at the floor. “I’ve had a crush on you for a while, and now I think- I think I may be in love with you.”

“And you didn’t say any of this before because?”

“I don’t know.” Lance groaned, tipping his head back and covering his face with his hands. “I thought you might turn me down or something, it’s stupid.”

“Yeah, it kinda is.”

Lance opened his eyes and looked at Keith through his fingers. The Red Paladin was startlingly close, bayard hung from his hip and face no longer expressionless but still unreadable.

“I like you too.” he said, and Lance grinned.

“Can we try that kiss again?”

“Yeah.” Keith breathed, and Lance took the last step to close the distance between them before he yanked Keith into a tight embrace. The kiss was, in Lance’s opinion, amazing. Sure their teeth knocked together, and noses were squished at odd angles, and Keith obviously had never kissed anyone before in his life, but it was _Keith_. Keith warm in his arms, pulling him closer instead of pushing him away, kissing back with more raw passion than any kind of skill. It was the best kiss he’d ever had. Lance pulled away beaming, and Keith wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I’m pretty sure that was a terrible kiss.” Keith murmured, his entire face bright red with blush.

“Don’t worry.” Lance’s cheeks hurt from the force of his smile, even as he slid a hand up from the small of Keith’s back to tangle in his mullet. “The next one’ll be better.”

\---

Lance curled around Keith’s back, one arm tucked under the pillows so it wouldn’t fall asleep overnight and one slung over Keith’s torso, holding him close. Lance ran his fingers gently over the bandage taped to the back of Keith’s hand, covering the intricate Gesk knotwork he’d sat through getting earlier today. They were married now. Space married, like Shiro and Allura. Lance grinned, and tucked his head against the fluffy back of Keith’s shoulder. It had been nothing like he expected. He’d been in jeans and a hoodie and Keith was, well, Keith. They’d been in an alien tattoo parlor instead of on the beach, and his moms hadn’t been there to cry like they always promised they would.

Keith’s hand turned, and purple fingers threaded between his gently. “Whatcha thinkin’ bout?” he mumbled, pulling Lance’s hand closer to his heart.

“Our wedding.” Lance answered, rubbing his thumb over Keith’s.

“It doesn’t feel real, does it.” Keith whispered back, his voice barely more than a breath in the quiet room.

“It really doesn’t.” Lance shook his head. “Y’know, I used to daydream about getting married when I was a kid.”

“Really?” Keith turned his head, a smile teasing at the corners of his mouth.

“Yeah.” Lance pressed a quick kiss to Keith’s lips. “Amalia and I would steal old magazines from the library and cut pictures out of them. She wanted to meet someone in college and get married on campus as soon as they graduated.”

“And you?” Keith was smiling, and Lance gave his hand a squeeze.

“I was gonna meet a pretty astronaut, bring her home to meet my moms, and we’d get married on the beach.” he chuckled and pulled Keith flush against his chest. “Amalia and I promised to be each other’s best man. She even agreed to wear a suit for it.”

“Well, you got one part right.” Keith said, turning over to face Lance. He was smiling his stupid soft little smile, the one that made Lance’s whole chest go warm and fuzzy.

“Please.” Lance grinned back. “You’re not pretty.” he leaned in and pressed a feather light kiss to the tip of Keith’s nose. “You’re handsome, and gorgeous, and so much more.”

Keith’s laugh was light, breathy. It tickled against Lance’s throat and the underside of his jaw. “I can live with that.”

“You better, hermoso.” Lance shifted, trying to find a position where his arm wasn’t going to fall asleep to the point of being painful in the morning. It was an exercise in futility, though, and eventually he settled on having it mostly curled under his body with his hand under Keith’s pillow. Keith’s breathing had mostly evened out when Lance broke the silence again.

“I want to do the rest, y’know.”

Keith’s golden eyes opened halfway, the darkened centers prominent in the low light.

“Bring you home to meet my moms, have a ceremony on the beach, all of it.” he slid his hand out from under the pillow to cup Keith’s cheek. “I want to be Earth married to you, not just space married.”

“Sure.” Keith grinned sleepily, his eyes already drifting shut. “But I’m not wearing a monkey suit.”

Lance sighed, and pressed a kiss to his husband’s forehead. “We'll talk about it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not tell me Lance isn’t a romantic. He is ten billion percent a romantic-ass _sap_ under all that terrible flirting. Believes in true love and soulmates, love at first sight, all that good stuff. Probably had glow-in-the-dark stars on his bedroom ceiling, too. Nerd.
> 
> Shiro, btw, has the symbol inked on his left hand and carved into his right. He and Allura have been subject to many "eww mom and dad are being gross" jokes from the Paladins. Shiro blushes every time.


End file.
